STEREOPHONIC SOUND

What is Stereophony
The purpose of stereophony (or stereo) is to create for the listener an illusion of spread of sound between a pair of speakers. This is basically due to binaural or paired nature of human hearing. To understand the phenomenon clearly, let us see how do we perceive the direction of sound. If we have only one output channel from, say, a mixer, irrespective of number of its inputs it will produce only a monophonic (or mono) sound having only one dimension the depth i.e. one can, with ones hearing sense, understand which sound sources are nearer to the microphone and which are further away. This distance is perceived based on the following factors : Direct to reverberated sound ratio Relative level with pre knowledge of level of sound if it is near.

But with mono sound we can never perceive whether a sound source is to the left or the right side of the microphone. To create this perception of the direction of the sound source we need two channels carrying slightly different information. If there is no difference, there is no stereo.

Localization of Sound
The directional perception in the horizontal plane is based on the unconscious comparison of nerve signals coming from the two ears. When these signals come from the frontal direction, both the ears receive the signals at the same time and there is no time difference or time delay in the two signals. When the signal is coming from a location off the centre line, it reaches one ear slightly earlier than the other. Because the human head is a solid lump of bone and flesh, it acts as a baffle. So the extra distance traveled by the sound from ear to ear around the head puts a fixed delay or phase shift in the signal. The brain uses this as a clue to direction. At higher frequencies, when the wavelength is shorter than the distance traveled, the phase clues become meaningless. So at higher frequencies, the ears and brain start sensing difference in intensity. The change over is at around 2 kHz.

Induction Course (Radio) The brain decides about the direction using both intensity and phase clues. Ambience of the environment also provides yet another clue to the ear and brain about its directionality. On the face of things, it might seem impossible for the ear to detect direction from phase and intensity clues when they are being confused by reflected sound. But by a clever trick, the brain gathers its clues from the first arriving waves only. If ears receive similar sounds arriving from different directions, the brain will latch on to the sound which arrives first. If the time difference is up to 50 milli sec. The early arrival sound can dominate a later arrival sound even though it is 10 dB louder. This explains why in acoustically dead halls it is far more difficult to pin point the direction of sound. If the listener can see the sound source, this is a very powerful additional clue. Below about 200 Hz we can hear no directions.

Stereo Listening with Two Loudspeakers

The ideal listening position is when there is the same distance to the speakers as it is between them. The angle subtended by the speakers at the listening position in this case will be 60o.. The line between the speakers is called stereo panorama as shown in Fig.1. Stereo panorama S1 S2

Listening Angle

60o

Listener

Fig. 1 Stereo Listening Height of the speakers should be practically in line with listeners ears. The speakers should also have same technical quality. If there is a difference between the speakers, the positions of the sound source in the stereo panorama will be unclear. Another factor that can affect quality of stereo signal are reflections. The reflections that occur in the region of 5-30 milli sec. after the direct sound will give the sound source a broad image. Such reflections can be caused by reflecting surfaces near the speaker locations. Thus, the surfaces around the speakers should be treated with sound absorbing materials. The speakers should also be located symmetrically in the room to get best results. STI(T) Publication 92 004/IC(Radio)/2001

Stereophonic Sound The speakers should also be in phase. The speakers are normally turned 30o towards centre. This provides listening area in the form of a triangle between the loudspeakers with its apex located at centre point of the stereo panorama. If you turn the speakers somewhat more towards each other, the listening area will expand and vice versa.

How Many Directions Can We hear?

In normal hearing you are able to separate two sound sources within 1-2 o if they are in front of you. This is however not possible while listening to a stereo materials on speakers. Here you will only be able to separate sources within about 10 o. In other words with normal stereo listening with speakers located 60 o apart, you will be able to separate 7 positions. If you are besides the correct listening area, the panorama will be slanted i.e. the images will shift towards the direction in which you are seated. It is thus important to be seated on the centre line in order to get a correct stereo balance.

Recording Techniques for Stereo

To achieve realistic stereo recordings, pickup of sound should be such as to provide necessary intensity and time difference clues to the two stereo channels. Microphone techniques for stereo assume great significance because it is here that quality of stereo image is decided. The following microphone techniques are normally used for stereo recordings: Spaced apart technique or A/B Stereo In this technique, two microphones are placed in front of the performing stage away from each other.
O H C

Ch 1 30
o

Ch 2

50cm L R (b) 1m

(a)

Fig. 2 A/B Stereo In one variation of spaced apart technique, the microphones are spaced the same distance as the ears have. In this case, the stereo images are brilliant, though you STI(T) Publication 93 004/IC(Radio)/2001

Induction Course (Radio) cannot separate front from back. However there is a handicap that the sound has to be listened to through headphones only. For listening through loudspeakers, the distance between microphones has to be increased. To achieve full stereo panorama (+ 30o), spacing between microphones has to be about 1 metre. The stereo images in this system are produced primarily due to inter-channel time differences, although in cases where distance of the source from two microphones is comparable to the microphone spacing, inter-channel amplitude differences also play some part. When the microphone spacing exceeds 2.5-3.0 metres both these clues tend to produce the phenomenon called hole-in-the middle. Matching requirements are minimum for spaced pairs because stereo information is derived mainly from inter channel time differences. However, there should not be great difference from the point of view of frequency response. Directions to the sound sources reproduced through this system are not as sharply defined as in other systems. Still this technique is favoured by some people as it seems to produce warmer sound. This appears to be due to the fact that in addition to the early reflections present acoustically in the recording environment, microphones generate, through the time delay between them, additional delayed signals which behave as early reflections. Through microphone placement, these delays can be varied and a creative recordist can use them to his advantage. Mono signal (sum of left and right channels) from spaced microphones is very poor because phase variations cause cancellations at various frequencies and sound quality varies according to position of the sound source. Even though this system has the advantage that normal mono microphones can be used and it can be implemented easily without need for any additional hardware, like matrix, this technique has not found favour with broadcasters due to inherent shortcomings regarding sharpness of images and mono compatibility mentioned above. Coincident Microphone Technique In this system, a pair of identical directional microphones are mounted at an angle so close to each other that differences in time of arrival of a given sound inclined to left or right are negligible. The stereophonic effects depend solely on inter-channel amplitude differences. Matching of microphones in this technique is very essential. Matching must be accurate in terms of frequency response and variation of polar pattern with frequency. If matching is not accurate, images will not be stable. Matching is more easily achieved in condenser microphones. There are two variations of this technique: 1. 2. X/Y Stereo M/S Stereo

X/Y Stereo

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Stereophonic Sound In this system normally two Cardioid microphones are used. However, occasionally hyper and super cardioides are also used. Angle between the two microphones called the Opening angle is an important parameter to decide the width of the stereo panorama. Thumb Rule for deciding opening angles is as follows : For Cardioides Microphones Stereo Width Mono Very Narrow Rather narrow Rather Wide Full width Very Wide + 0o + 11o + 16o + 22o + 28o + 30o

Opening Angle

0o 40o 60o 90o 135o 180o

Opening Angle

For Hyper-Cardioides Microphones Stereo Width 0o 20o 40o 50o 60o Mono Rather Narrow Rather wide Full Width Too wide + 0o Low level + 25o + 30o Out of phase

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Induction Course (Radio)

M/S Stereo

Ch 1

Ch 2

Ch 1

Ch 2

Fig.3 X/Y Stereo

Fig. 4 M/S Stereo

The stereo recordings with X/Y system generally work well both in stereo and mono. This is thus the safest way to make stereo recordings for broadcasting. This system, however, gives dull and lifeless sound as compared A/B and M/S stereo system. M/S Stereo This technique uses two coincident microphones. One of the microphones, called Mcapsule, normally a cardioid, faces front and the other one, called S-capsule, always a bi-directional, faces side ways with face having same polarity as the cardioid facing left. The stereo left and right signals are generated by, using a matrix network, combination of M and S signals by the following equations: Due to the above combinations, the sources located left of the microphone shall be picked up at higher level by the L signal and those on the right by the R signal. M and S signals can be combined as above in the audio mixer by routing S signal into two input channels with polarity of one channel reversed. To get satisfactory results, it is essential that both the microphones are exactly similar in their technical quality. Coincident technique is widely used to produce classical stereo recordings in broadcasting due to the following reasons : i) It exhibits excellent monophonic (left plus right) compatibility a very important requirement in case of broadcasting.

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Stereophonic Sound

M Summing Amplifier M L

Inverting Amplifier (a)

M = S = (L + R) 2 (L - R) 2

Summing Amplifier

(b)
Left signal Right Signal L = (M + S) 2 R = (M - S) 2

Fig. 5 M/S Combining Matrix ii) Coincident microphone recordings often preserve an astonishing degree of realism. This is due largely to the way the microphone pair response to the reverberant information. Because of their close spacing, both microphones pickup reverb information of the same basic spectral energy distribution. However, because the microphones are oriented in different directions, the instantaneous phase and amplitude relationship at their outputs are largely incoherent. The result is spread of reverberant sound between the loudspeakers while direct sound appears to be planned at some positions between the loudspeakers. The stereo images are well defined.

iii)

All types of microphones cardioid, super cardioid, hyper-cardioid and bi-directional are used. The choice depends mainly on angle of pick-up desired and ambience. Cardioid coincident pair is suitable for acoustically well-treated locations. Super-cardioid pair is advantageous for locations where sound rejection from rear is necessary. Hyper-cardioid and bi-directional pairs are used less frequently. These are used where pick-up from both front and rear is desired. Multi-microphone technique For popular music recordings, more and more microphones are being deployed. In such situations, Multi-microphone technique is employed which normally dispenses with main stereo microphone, employing individual microphones for a player or a group of players. Some players like drummers may even have more than one microphone. Each microphone is carefully chosen, positioned and fed to the mixing console. In most such recordings, output of each individual microphone or a group of microphones is recorded on separate track in the process known as multi-track recording. Binaural (Dummy Head) Stereo

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Induction Course (Radio) In this system microphones are placed in the ears of a dummy head. The received sound is transmitted direct to the listeners ears through headphone. Odd shape of ear (or dummy head) adds an acoustic imprint to the arriving sound when enhances the stereo effect. Binaural stereo recording is the easy way to reproduce stereo. If the system is carefully designed, there is reasonable recreation of total sound field around the head. The result is however, not very perfect. Some people often fail to hear any sound as coming from front. Instead it comes from side and perhaps rear. This is very disconcerting. Most important, the binaural effect works only properly with headphones which are coupled closely with the ears. Reproduction of Binaural stereo on loudspeakers gives very unsatisfactory result. Mono signal is also not usable. Hence this system is never used in broadcasting.

Fig. 6 Dummy Head Stereo

Pseudo-Stereo
The purpose of pseudo-stereo is to achieve a feeling of spaciousness in the processed monophonic sound. If you have, say, a scene from a drama recorded in stereo and you want to add atmosphere from a shopping centre, that atmosphere should also be recorded in stereo otherwise it would be heard as if it is there only in the centre of the stereo panorama. If this atmosphere has been originally recorded in mono, then through some processing technique you should be able to create a feeling of stereo for presentation over two channels, approximating to a greater or lesser degree some attributes implicit in stereo. One such processing technique is to feed the mono signal to two different loudspeakers but one of them having some 50 100 milli sec delay.

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Stereophonic Sound

+
Monophonic Output Time Delay (T)

Left Pseudo-stereo Output [M(t) + M(t-T)]

M(t)

Left Pseudo-stereo Output

[M(t) - M(t-T)]

Fig. 7 Comb Filter A more practical form for obtaining alternate reinforcements and cancellations is by combining the direct and a delayed signal through a circuit called a comb filter (named so because of comb like shape of its response) as shown. Such output gives impression to the listener as to having some of the attributes of stereo, though it is no more possible to recreate a real stereo from a monophonic signal source that it is to add color, through video processing, to a black & white television signal. References:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Audio Electronics Reference Book by Ian R. Sinclair, BSP Professional Books. Stereophonic Sound by Hans Evers, ITU Consultant on Stereophony & MultiChannel Recording. Technical Manual No. 8 written for ITU/UNDP Project RAS/89/007. Sound Recording by John Eargle. Audio Engineers Reference Book by Michael Talbot-Smith. Broadcast Sound Technology by Michael Talbot-Smith. Sound and Recording: An Introduction by Francis Rumsey & Tim McCormick (Focal Press).

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